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  #1  
Old 02-12-2006, 10:49 PM
asherah asherah is offline
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ok apparently It was too dark to see my card last night because today the ammonia is STILL at 0.25. It hasn't budged from this in weeks. Is there anything i can do to move this along ? Why is it not changing?

amanda
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Old 02-12-2006, 10:54 PM
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Basically you're just waiting for the bacterial populations that convert ammonia to nitrite to reach the levels needed to reduce the ammonia to zero. Same for the other parameters. It takes as long as it takes. Sometimes a few weeks, sometimes a few months. How long has it been since your tank started cycling?
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Old 02-12-2006, 11:05 PM
asherah asherah is offline
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ok because it's been going for about 6 weeks now.........=/
I put some established rock from my 44 into it to help it along but doesnt' seem to be making a difference.... yet anyway.

amanda
actually i'm probably wrong on that one because I put the rock in before christmas =p So it's been longer than 6 weeks.

Last edited by asherah; 02-12-2006 at 11:13 PM.
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Old 02-12-2006, 11:15 PM
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Sometimes it is difficult to read the colors properly on the test kit or if it is old it may not be working right. If you are in doubt try taking a sample in to your LFS and have them test it.
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Old 02-12-2006, 11:17 PM
asherah asherah is offline
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ok thanks alot =)

amanda
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Old 02-13-2006, 12:14 AM
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And if you use a water treatment like prime - you may get a false positive reading.

Andy
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Old 02-13-2006, 12:23 AM
asherah asherah is offline
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No I don't use prime or anything... I added some cycle awhile ago ...last week.
Anyway I just did some more tests and it says
Ammonia - 0.25
Nitrite - 0.5
Nitrate - 10

amanda
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Old 02-13-2006, 12:26 AM
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My Aquarium Systems nitrate and nitrite tests never ever detected anything. The fish and inverts don't seem to mind atm.
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Old 02-13-2006, 12:36 AM
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With those readings your tank is still cycling. It's just one of those things. I have actually never had it take that long but then again I usually start out with new live rock which has quite a bit of die off as I have to ship everything. So I get a huge ammonia spike and then the usual nitrite and nitrate. I would not add anything else like cycle as I think you might have just started it all over again. Not sure though as I have never used it.
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Old 02-13-2006, 12:39 AM
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I started with base rock and reef bones. The cycle was taking forever so I added some live rock from my 44. Thought it would help it along but I guess not...
Anything I can do to speed it up?
amanda
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